


An Open Fire

by deceptigeek



Series: Christmas giftfics 2019... Now in August! [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas Gift Fic, Hiking, M/M, Rodimus is a dumbass, Thunderclash is also a dumbass, sorta - Freeform, stranded in the snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22107724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deceptigeek/pseuds/deceptigeek
Summary: Stranded halfway up a mountain and freezing their afts off, Rodimus and Thunderclash quickly learn that neither is particularly well-equipped to handle the situation.At least there are creative solutions to be had.
Relationships: Rodimus/Thunderclash
Series: Christmas giftfics 2019... Now in August! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591342
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	An Open Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PurrElise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurrElise/gifts).



> A Christmas present request, that's a tad late (although not as late as the others are going to be... orz). 
> 
> Inspired by that one Good Omens comic: https://chrizwho.tumblr.com/post/186653745834/crowley-evidently-has-special-ways-of-showing

“ _ Megatron _ . Chromedome and Rewind are  _ canoodling _ again. Make them stop.” 

Across the clearing, Rodimus heard Megatron give a beleaguered sigh. “They’re hardly  _ that _ bad, Roller. Besides, Rewind’s small; he needs help keeping warm.” 

He had the vague impression his co-captain was trying to catch his optic and get him to intervene too - stubbornly, Rodimus pretended not to notice, and burrowed his nose into Thunderclash’s shoulder joint. 

A moment later, he sat up with a yelp. “Primus, you’re  _ freezing _ !”

Thunderclash shrugged it off, smiling. “We’ve been sat here for hours, I’d be surprised if I wasn’t. And it’s only my outer plating. Like Megatron said” - here, he reached over, clasping both of Rodimus’ hands in his much larger ones - “it’s smaller mechs who need to worry.” 

Rodimus appreciated the gesture, but after half a day stranded up a mountain in the depths of this planet’s winter, there wasn’t much heat transfer left to be had. 

Exploring had seemed like a great idea this morning, with multiple flightframes to keep lookout and an excited Brainstorm jabbering about the rare mineral content in the rocks, and precisely what abominations of science he could accomplish if he got his servos on some. Now, however, with the revelation that said mineral content was great at messing with comm. signals, and an avalanche having cut off their original way up the mountain, things were looking decidedly less fun. Nobody was really in any danger (least of all Tailgate, thought Rodimus grumpily, who’d been tucked snugly away into Cyclonus’ alt’s interior before the jet flew off to fetch help), but with the shuttle yet to show up to rescue them from their plight, and no way of discerning an ETA, the cold was starting to chafe at several people’s tempers. 

Not Thunderclash’s, of course. There was a time when that would’ve bothered the everloving frag out of Rodimus, and only made his own mood worse… and sure, he could  _ just _ about admit that some small part of him was, even now, internally berating himself for letting the situation get to him. 

But!  _ But _ , he told himself, it was a whole lot harder to get annoyed at Thunderclash, in turn, when the big goof did things like trying to warm up Rodimus’ hands with his equally freezing ones. 

Pointless self-sacrifice. Who ever knew it could be so charming?

With a huff, Rodimus slumped back into Thunderclash’s side. Thunderclash took the opportunity to press a kiss to the top of Rodimus’ head - only to be rewarded with his partner squirming away again almost immediately, since he’d managed to catch a delicate chevron with his cold lips. 

Rodimus couldn’t quite bite down on a laugh - the sensation hadn’t been completely unpleasant, just  _ weird _ \- but he did hold his hands up in a protesting sort of stance. 

“Ugh, okay, look, I don’t care what Chromedome and Rewind are getting up to, this whole snuggling for warmth thing isn’t working for me.”

For the briefest moment Thunderclash resembled a kicked turbopuppy, before he managed to stow the expression away. He gave a slight, self deprecating chuckle. 

“Sorry. It’s hard to resist.”

By that, he surely meant that  _ Rodimus _ was hard to resist, which was still almost enough to give the mech in question a bit of a funny turn. Sure, he’d heard it before (plenty of times!) - but never from Thunderclash until very, very recently. 

He couldn’t help feeling a little bad, either. Dating someone quite so functional was not-terribly-explored territory for Rodimus, but yet another nagging part of his mind (the pointlessly self-sacrificial one, perhaps) was of the opinion that if Thunderclash did want to cuddle, a bit of discomfort ought to be worth putting up with. Especially when everyone was cold and miserable anyway as things stood. 

On the other hand, Rodimus doubted Thunderclash would be happy getting what he wanted if it meant putting someone else at a disadvantage - which, weirdly, made it all the harder to resist the turbopuppy optics. Rodimus was not the sort of mech who enjoyed telling people ‘it’s for your own good’.

“Right.” Mind suddenly made up, Rodimus jumped up off the rock they’d been sat on, tugging at Thunderclash’s arm until he, too, got to his feet. “Let’s try something else - fancy a walk?”

Thunderclash’s expression was dubious - and sure, maybe this would do absolutely nothing to help their current frozen situation. At least it was something different. Besides, once Rodimus laced their fingers together tightly, that dubious expression perked right up. 

“We might as well get a look round at this place while we’re stuck here, yeah?” 

“I… suppose.” Thunderclash allowed himself to be led towards a little copse of trees. “I wouldn’t have thought there’s much here that’d interest you.” 

“Well,” admitted Rodimus, “maybe not scenery-wise, no.” He squeezed his partner’s hand and winked, and was delighted to see a faint blush rise on Thunderclash’s face. “But at least this way, I get to check you out without sitting around and letting my internals freeze up.”

They reached the trees and let their path meander a little, joined hands swinging between them as thumbs brushed comfortingly over fingers. After a minute or two, the barren vegetation opened up onto an exposed rocky ledge, standing high above a vast, frozen lake that spanned almost an entire side of the mountain. Everything here was slate greys and frosty blues, from the sky to the depths of the water beneath the ice - beside Rodimus, Thunderclash let his hand hang limp as he turned his helm about, drinking in the view. 

Optics bright, he turned back to Rodimus. “Perhaps there are exceptions to what I said about scenery?”

“Nah.” Rodimus grinned, easily. “Never.” 

Thunderclash’s blush deepened. Rodimus’ smile grew wider. 

And vanished in the next second, when Thunderclash gave a sudden, almighty shudder, complete with audible teeth chattering. 

“‘Clash?! Babe, what’s wrong?” 

“N-nothing,” the larger mech gasped, struggling to lift his shaking arms to his chest. “It’s just a l-little chill, I p-promi-”

“This is  _ not _ little!” Rodimus’ own servos flew up to grip wildly at his helm as a bubble of panic swelled inside him. “You’re practically having a seizure, I…” 

He glanced around, searching frantically for Ratchet’s familiar red and white against the snow, before remembering that not only were they separated from the expedition party, but the medic was still back aboard the  _ Lost Light _ . The panic bubble grew several sizes. 

“I s-suppose,” said Thunderclash, “it m-might be m-my illness… w-weaker to the cold than I r-realised…” With Herculean effort, he managed to drag his hands up to his face and blow on them. 

“Never mind what caused it!” Rodimus yelped. “How do I make it  _ stop! _ ”

Thunderclash gave another great shiver, and the bubble popped. 

_ FHWOMP. _

The world turned from blue and grey to oranges, golds, and reds. For a moment, Rodimus didn’t even realise what had happened, until he met Thunderclash’s startled optics through the sudden heat haze and dragged his gaze downwards to the flames now licking over his limbs. 

“... Oops.”

Still staring at Rodimus in faint bemusement, Thunderclash lifted his servos tentatively towards him… and started warming them with the heat of the fire. 

Rodimus couldn’t stop a slightly hysterical giggle from escaping. Thunderclash smiled sheepishly back. 

Once his vision cooled back down into the blue spectrum, Rodimus shook himself out a little. He’d forgotten how the crackling sensation tended to linger in his joints; as though the fire had merely retreated deeper inside him, and was still trying to cling closer to the surface where it could. Placing a careful hand on Thunderclash’s chest first, and checking he didn’t flinch from the temperature, he stepped into the larger mech’s arms. 

“Mm,” said Thunderclash, his voice already sounding steadier as he pulled Rodimus in close. “Much better.”

“Yeah? You wanna tell me how that happened so suddenly, when you were banging on earlier about not feeling the cold?”

“Ah.” 

Rodimus couldn’t help squirming a little in smug delight at his victory. Pointless self-sacrifice, indeed - and sure, he knew he was being a massive hypocrite really, but he was still counting this as a win for himself. 

“Ah?” he prompted. 

“I may have been… putting a bit of a brave face on things.” Thunderclash nuzzled his helm against the side of Rodimus’, but  _ nope _ , being cute wasn’t gonna get him out of this one. The smaller mech cleared his throat. 

“Perhaps I should have been more honest about”- 

Much to Rodimus’ displeasure, the admission was cut off by an aggrieved shout from back in the clearing. 

“Hold on a minute! You two  _ are _ canoodling! Tell them to stop canoodling, Megatron!”

“... Alright, yes, that’s taking things a bit far. You don’t need to be  _ that _ warm, Rewind.”


End file.
